Teenie Matlock

2011 Young Investigator Award

Teenie Matlock is an associate professor at the University of California, Merced. Her main line of research is psycholinguistics. She is best known for her work on spatial language, especially motion verbs, but in her latest research, she is investigating language in the political realm, specifically, how the linguistic details of campaign ads influence attitudes about electability. Matlock has published more than 50 articles. Her research combines theory from cognitive linguistics and methods from experimental psychology. Many of her projects address the understanding of meaning, especially spatial language and, more recently, political language. Originally from Mariposa in the Sierra Nevada foothills, Matlock came to nearby UC Merced as a founding faculty member in 2004, after completing postdoctoral research at Stanford University. She completed her Ph.D. in cognitive psychology at UC Santa Cruz in 2001 after completing earlier graduate work at UC San Diego and undergraduate work at California State University, Fresno. Her work has been funded by grants from the National Science Foundation and the University of California. She serves as a standing member of the National Institute of Health's Language and Communication panel.